Stolen
by demena4president
Summary: She promised to be mine forever. Apparently forever was only so long. Oneshot.


**I know I haven't been updating my other stuff and I'm _really sorry_, but I can't seem to get out of this writer's block, so I figured maybe a little one shot would help. Thanks guys :) The song for this one shot is "Last to Know" by The Wanted. I realize that this is a lot like a oneshot that was published earlier, "Letting Go," but I swear that it's different. By the way, that one was really good. If you guys are in the mood for a really bitter-sweet fanfiction, I would recommend that one. :D**

I can't believe this is happening. I thought we would never fall apart. This isn't even close to what I would call a happy ending. Well, not for me, anyways.

I watch them, laughing and holding hands. I can see her eyes. They're sparkling, and they shine even brighter when she looks at the person next to her. It feels like every emotion in my body is shutting down; like the pain is squeezing the breath out of me.

She was going to be mine forever. We had discussed it before—the life we planned to have together. Names for the kids. The house. The car.

I know she's happier, but it breaks my heart every time I see her. Shatters it completely, leaving me standing alone amongst broken glass. I don't feel anymore, so I run along the path after her, getting the shards stuck in my feet. I know I'm bleeding, but I have to chase her. I have to see her turn and come back to me... back to my arms.

Sure, she might be happier where she is now. She might be better off. And I'm happy for her, but I need her back. I want to be happy, too. I want to be the person she's giving that look to. The person who's hand she's holding.

The twist of the story was completely unexpected. I mean, we might technically still be together. No one knows that we're completely apart. I know she doesn't think I know. She doesn't think that I can see what's going on. She must take me for blind.

I turn around, my tennis shoes scraping against the gravel of the parking lot. I can't bear to watch them any longer. Getting in my car, I run my hands through my hair, then put my head on the cool steering wheel and just breathe. There's a picture of her hanging from my review mirror, and I stare at it for a while. There we are, a happy couple.

The sight of her just makes me sick now, so I close my eyes instead of facing reality. In my head, everything makes sense. But it's never reality. My daydreams will get me nowhere with her.

I hear laughter. It's _her,_ and she's with the person she loves. The person who replaced me. Then she gets in, and her sparkling brown eyes look at me curiously.

"Is something wrong?"

I can hear worry in her tone, as if she thinks I'm sick. There are a thousand ways I can say no, I'm not okay, but instead, I don't say anything. I merely start the car and begin to drive her home. It's a short drive, luckily, so I focus on the road and neither of us say anything.

We pull up next to her house and she thanks me for the ride before opening the car door and getting out. My heart lurches, remembering back to the time when she actually gave me a goodbye kiss. Now it was just a couple words and then she's gone.

Half of me wants to drive out of town and never come back. Just leave her here, never answering calls. She would be better off without me.

All of this would be so much better if she would just tell me what was going on herself. Maybe the heartbreak would be more bearable that way? I'm not sure, but I just want her to be honest with me. I know that her friends give me sympathetic looks when I'm around, which gives me the feeling there's something they know that I don't.

My phone pings, and I get a text from her, repeating her question from earlier... am I okay?

I don't bother replying. She should be able to tell all on her own. Instead of texting back, I start back to my apartment. The only way I'm going to forget all of this is with a good night's sleep. Oh wait, I haven't been getting any. Ever since my love life went splashing down into the toilet, I can barely eat, much less sleep. The second I get out of bed in the morning for work, however, I just want to sleep of course.

I can't handle this anymore. I take out my phone and message her back, telling her that she needs to come over. She protests, but I insist. We need to talk.

So she comes. We sit on the couch together, and I stare straight into her eyes.

"What's going on?"

"Nothing," she says, but I can see her fidget with the hem of her shirt. Just like she does when she's nervous. Or lying.

"Hey, look at me."

She hesitates, then finally meets my gaze. "What do you want to know?"

"You know exactly what I'm talking about."

Finally, her shoulders slump. An obvious sign of defeat. "You're right. It sounds like you know everything, though."

"So, what now?"

It breaks me to see her brokenness. She gives me another shattered glance, then gets up and leaves. I feel like I've just been punched in the gut. I'm left alone now, on this couch. It's only one in the afternoon, but now all there is left to do is curl up on my bed.

Everywhere I go, I run into her. It's not fair, how fate treats me like this. I can try to avoid her as long as possible, but the effort is never fruitful.

Technically, she's not cheating on me. She's merely having a good time with a friend, right? That's not how I see it at all. Best friends or no, holding hands is not usually okay. Besides, both of them have that look in their eyes. That look that she used to give me. That look that I _still _give her.

I know I should just let her go. Set her free. I'm holding her back from the person she loves, but I know she's too afraid to hurt me. She claims to be busy working or helping her family. She took a job at the newspaper and then another one as a babysitter, trying to keep away from me at all costs, so she doesn't have to face the one thing in her life that isn't perfect.

Me.

Our situation is far from it, actually. If I could only get up the strength to end it between us. I know that she doesn't love me anymore. I know that there's someone else. Someone better, cuter, funnier. There will _always _be that one person, but I didn't think that anyone could be a threat. I didn't think anyone could stand between us. I guess that was my first mistake. Now look at me, watching my own girlfriend with someone else, doing nothing about it. Simply observing.

I have every right to be angry, but instead, I'm sad. Bitterness is my only friend, and it's eating at my heart. There are chunks missing and I know the only way to get them back is to do what I've known I have to do all along.

But I'm scared. I don't want to let her go. She's _mine_. I claimed her. I'd even proposed to her. Why I'd let her brush the wedding aside so easily, I have no idea. The memory itself makes want to shoot myself in the foot.

_ "Okay, well, what I'm trying to say is... will you marry me?"_

_ Her eyes sparkled even more than I had ever seen them. She gasped in surprise, and I watched her lips quirk up as she saw the ring. "It's beautiful."_

_ "Is that a yes?" I stood up, bringing her into a cozy embrace. "I love you, and I want to spend the rest of my life with you."_

_ We broke apart, and she laughed disbelievingly. "With me? Oh, but you know I can't."_

_ This made me take a step back. "Can't? Why not?"_

_ "You know I love you! But with college and everything... I think it best that we just wait. I promise to wait... for you. I will always be in love with you, and only you." The words sent shivers running down my spine. When we kissed, all my protests vanished. She was right. We were happy, and we were young. What could go wrong._

I had never felt so safe in my life. If I had insisted... how would my life be different? Would I have kids? Would she still be deeply in love with me, as she had promised?

The word brought bile up from my throat. Promise... what does that even mean, anyway? That someone will never go against their word? Obviously not, because she had done just what she had said she wouldn't. She was in love with someone else, and she hadn't waited at all. She had gone off skipping into the sunset, leaving me behind with a white horse and a broken heart.

I would give anything to return to that moment again, even if just to hold her in my arms and feel her return the hug with just as much affection. Now, her hugs are empty. Just like her words.

I'm sorry. She did nothing to deserve that. She can't control her emotions, however much I wish her to. In fact, the only way that I would be truly happy with her is if she was in love with me, and that was already ruined.

Making up my mind, I walk up to the two. She looks surprised to see me interfere, and I see a spark of something in her eyes... a spark of what? Definitely not one of love or affection. Maybe one of... fear? Anxiety? Worry?

"Can we talk?" I say.

She nods, and follows me to a quiet spot under a tree. "I know you don't love me, Mitchie. I know you don't."

My voice cracks with my heart. She looks down. "You know I love you."

The words barely reach my ears, and I gulped down a silent scream of pain. "No."

"But it's not the way I should if we're together," she finishes, looking up at me with those eyes... "It's not fair to you to continue this way."

"I know. So I guess I'm going to break up with you, Mitch. I hope you have fun with your best friend. You guys are really cute together."

I turn and walk away, still walking on broken glass. The path is getting easier, though, and I know in the end I'll be fine. I still love her, but maybe if I try hard enough, I can love her the way she loves me. But right now, I'm still hurting. I need to heal.

Grass crunching under my feet, I realize I need to turn and look back, even just once. There's Mitchie, beautiful as I'd ever dreamed. But she's in the arms of someone else now, and I've been stolen from... by none other than Alex Gomez.

And they lived happily ever after... without me.


End file.
